To The Death! 3 Ways I’ve Learned To Try Hard

Check this link some try hard inspiration. 

One thing that all the best climbers have in common is that they all TRY HARD! They all commit… you won’t send if you say “Take!”.

Many great coaches and training fanatics attribute the ability to try hard to success. Kris Hampton, coach and founder of Power Company Climbing, often mentions this on his podcast. Steven Dimmitt, who started The Nugget Climbing Podcast to learn the secrets of pros, said that this was one of the most notable trends he has seen in his interviews.

In one of Dimmitt’s episodes, he talks with Dru Mack and Nat Gustafson, who have both spent time in Spain. They discussed why they thought that Spanish climbers were on another level. Nat mentioned, “…they go ‘a muerte’: to the death.” The long resistance routes in Spain lend to this, where fighting the pump is required. 

But it’s not just a successful attribute for endurance routes… summoning some “try hard” will help with a powerful boulder problem, a committing slab, or a gnarly crack. 

When I noticed this theme I tried to implement it into my climbing. What helped me may not be ideal for you, so experiment and learn what you can do to push yourself to the limit! Here are a few tips I learned work for me:

1) One major factor of trying hard is having confidence in your ability. It’s hard to be able to give your best effort when doubt hangs in mind. Focus on the present moment…what the next move requires. Full immersion into the act of performing and how to execute will help eliminate hesitation and doubt, the greatest inhibitors of trying hard.

Adam Ondra going “a muerte” (Photo from Climbing Magazines)

2) Don’t say take! Try until you’re off. A redpoint dies with that word. Was it the famous German climber Wolfgang Gullich that said (when asked how to say take in German), “There is no German word for take…”? Maybe that’s why he was arguably the strongest climber of his time! Or there is actually no German word for take… but you get my point.

3) Onsight! Every new route is an onsight attempt, even if it’s past your limit. If you don’t give up until you’re flying then you’ll learn to keep at it on unfamiliar and hard terrain long past when you thought you would drop. On my hardest onsight I got so scared trying to clip a rusty pin 15 feet up I yelled at my belayer as I hoped a smear I was on wouldn’t skitter. And that wasn’t even the crux! But I kept fighting to the top.

I’m not an amazing climber as far as grades go, but I know that if I do my best I can push myself to a place I’ve never been. You can too! It feels good to fight to the death and fly off knowing you gave it your all, or to know that it was what you needed when you clip the chains!